Body Count

by mike Evans

  The man tried to push his hands away and Forsyth gripped tighter, pulling the man closer to him so that he slid off of his chair and across the desk. The hotel attendant said it just barely as a whisper, “I seem to have misunderstood you sir. I am so sorry, do you have a preference on your room?”

  “I want two beds, you can mark me down as John Smith. I want a deep tub and I want you to send the concierge up when they get in. Do you have any questions at all?”

  The man shook his head and said, “None actually, again please accept my apologies. I will give you a half hour to get situated in your room and I will send Gerald up. He can get you anything. He lives here and he never leaves. You can give him a list or tell him what you need and he will take care of you and will do so happily.”

  Forsyth took the plastic key card, turning around saying nothing else, and scooped up Mikey and their gear then taking his wary body upstairs to their room where he would do his best to

  wait for the concierge Gerard to come. When all was settled, he would then sleep the sleep of the dead. When Gerald arrived an hour later Forsyth decided that moving fast and getting out of the way was more important than anything. He ordered jeans for the boy and himself and plain t shirts and jackets with watch caps. He threw an order of swimming trunks in for Mikey with whatever American television show that he could get for the kid. He secured the doors again then he barely made it to the bed before he was asleep. The two slept next to each other until late into the morning. When he woke up he went to the door and saw that Gerard had left everything packaged with a phone number on a card so that Forsyth could get any additional items that he needed to at any time of day.

  Forsyth changed his bandages again, and again made sure that he could do what he needed to with range of motion with his arm. The phone rang; he closed the door slowly and hit the answer button on it. “Hello, Gabriel is that you?”

  From all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, Gabriel looked out the window watching Molly playing in the yard and said, “Yeah it is. How is my boy doing, you guys doing ok?”

  Forsyth looked at the sleeping boy and then at his arm again. “Well I don’t know exactly who is after us but someone is on our tail and they’ve got resources that work. Every time I think that I've done enough to keep safe, they find us. I don’t know what else we can do.”

  “You aren’t filling me with faith here Forsyth.”

  “It isn’t my job to make you feel better. Your kid is just as good as when we left. This isn’t my type of thing though, I'm a pilot not a killer, or at least I wasn’t one until yesterday. If you forgot, that was your job.”

  “But Mikey is ok right? I mean nothing happened to him?

  “No, he’s just fine. But I don’t know how long we can keep hiding if they are able to keep find us.”

  “Well you are going to be multi-tasking until I can jump the pond. You think that you are going to be able to handle that? It’s going to be a bit before I can get over there. I’m pretty fucked up right now. I had plans and they went to shit on me in Langley.”

  “Just God’s way of letting you know how little control you have over anything. So how many more days till you get here? I saw your face on the news the other day I had to turn the channel before Mikey saw it. You know...that kid is a damn handful, he’s easy as hell to fall in love with though.”

  Gabriel looked at his torso in the mirror still seeing a rainbow's worth of color. He said, “You know it’s going to be a few more days. I got a feeling I’ll be having more trouble with people than I can imagine. I’m laying low and healing right now, I just need a few more days. The minute that I can get out of here, I’ll be on the first flight that I can get. I just haven’t figured out how in the hell I'm going to get over there yet. I did one wire transfer but I gotta feeling that I'm going to need to do a few more. The problem is I think that people are going to be raising an eyebrow to me dropping cash like that to rent a plane. What is it going to cost me twenty, thirty thousand?”

  “Well if you were just an asshole businessman and not a gun toting killer for hire you’d probably be looking at forty five thousand dollars. In this case you are looking at probably double that, but I don’t know a service with a reputation for trying to get guys like you across the ocean. That’s why you and I got along so well back in the day.”

  Gabriel gripped the phone tight, wanting to smash it. “Then tell me what the hell I should do?”

  “You got money right? I mean enough that you could do something stupid and not worry about the consequences of spending it?”

  “To a point yes, tell me what to do then.”

  Forsyth went over the directions and what would be the easiest to do, when the two men had agreed on what options he had, they said goodbye and moved on. When Gabriel hung up the phone Molly came running out of the barn holding her face and back screaming at the top of her lungs. Edd ran out after her, unable to keep up while rubbing the palm of his hand. He stopped walking when he saw Gabriel standing in the doorway. He took a few more steps then changing his mind and turned around. Gabriel knew that he wanted to go after the girl but because he had been there watching Edd would not. Gabriel headed outside and by the time that he had made it down the steps Edd had returned back into the seclusion of his shop and closed the heavy doors behind him. Gabriel walked slowly by the front door, hearing crying and screaming and Kindra soothing her daughter, telling her that some things were easier than others in life. This was one of the things that would need to be dealt with at a later time Gabriel thought.

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  Edd waited, watching as the man disappeared. God knows where he was going in a small town like this for so long. He’d never seen anyone come back so sweaty and dirty looking in all his life. He thought about the room, wondering if he was trashing the damn place. He walked up the steps trying the door but coming up with nothing. He checked his overalls and figured that the damn wife probably had the fucking key. Edd thought about going inside to get it but didn’t want to get an ear full about the kid, so he went back to the garage. Pulling a beer from the fridge and turning on the tv kept Edd busy while waiting for a part runner to get him a new sensor for the car. He had hated working on cars ever since they turned it into a damn computer on wheels.

  He sat back smoking a cigarette and looking through the paper. He half spit his beer and half choked on it when he saw the front page of the paper, reading what the reward amount was. He hadn’t choked on it because of that but because the battered man staring back at him on the front page was no other than Jacob, the man renting their room.

  He went straight inside not saying anything to anyone. He knew that the woman would only piss the money away. Once he got the reward money he was headed to anywhere but here to live like he deserved to. Edd hadn’t asked for a second child and didn’t see a reason to why he needed to take care of it. It was her job in the first place to not get pregnant. He went back up the steps, this time not worrying about the door. He put his girth into it and popped the door’s lock but it did not budge. He stepped back, looking at it again and this time saw that a new set of deadbolts had been installed onto it. He laid a dirty grease rag across the window square next to them and punched through it, trying to muffle the noise as well as protect his hand.

  Edd unlocked the deadbolts, opened the door and walked in slowly. “Hello, come on in to fix the uh…..gonna check your shitter, Kindra said something a couple weeks ago that it keeps running and well I ain’t made of money so I'm gonna look at it. If you don't want me in here, ya’ll just say something alrighty?”

  When the apartment that he knew was empty didn’t reply, he smiled while moving quickly into the room. He lifted the mattress first and was rewarded with a laptop. He pulled it out, trying to see what was on it and cursed himself when a yellow bio hazard protection symbol popped up asking for a password. He did not even make an attempt at it and shut it back down then putting it in its place.

  When he
looked at the rest of the room, you would not even know that Jacob had been there except for some cleaned dishes from his kitchen that he had not yet returned to anyone. He looked through closets, seeing nothing else of danger and when he felt he had looked through everything and gotten all the information that he’d get, he brushed up the glass trying to think of what he would say to the man but could think of nothing intelligent, something he was used to having to deal with. He also figured the man would long be in jail by that time.

  Edd went down stairs back to his garage and dialed a number on the front of the paper. He waited patiently and gave them all of the information that he thought that he had. They thanked him for the information and told them that management would be on their way to deal with the issue. They advised him to act as if everything was normal for the time being and not to do anything that would make the man suspicious and that they should consider him armed and extremely dangerous. Edd went into the house packing himself a bag. Kindra came into the room, seeing what he was doing and said, “Where the hell do you think you are going? You got a whole day's worth of cars out there that needs fixin.”

  “Well, then I guess you’d better learn how to turn a wrench huh?”

  “Look manly man, you are the one that makes me lose or not get every job I try. On account it’s unacceptable to go out in public to let people see what I look like black and blue.”

  “Well, Christ a town this small you know exactly what they would say and what that would do for my business now don’t ya?”

  “Uh yeah, that you beat your wife and kid, and that you are a piece of shit? Oh bless your heart you are doing me a big old favor having me stay inside on days like this. Christ that man up there has been here less than a week and you still can’t keep your hands off me, never mind the bun in the oven I got, that is yours.”

  “Watch your mouth woman or you gonna get a matching shiner on the other side. You don’t know how good you two got it. I work my ass off trying to keep things going around here and keep you in the life that you are used to.”

  Kindra laughed at this. “Hell I think that I probably had to downgrade a bit when I married the big oh football jock sweetheart from high school. Only goes to show how stupid you are when you are young. We all make mistakes I guess.”

  Edd walked across the room and gripped her wrist and she screamed at the top of her lungs for him to stop. Molly, who knew better, ran into the room screaming for him to let go of her momma. Edd said, “You know when that son of a bitch is gone, it’s going to be time to get some respect around here. You think just because you got that piece of shit staying up stairs that you are going to be able to act how you want and disrespect me? Well, he ain’t going to be around much longer. I’d say his two weeks is up now!”

  Kindra screamed, clawing at his hand until he let go. She backed up cradling her stomach and said, “What are you talking about Edd? What’d you go and do now you son of a bitch?”

  Edd smiled, finishing loading up his clothes into a duffle bag. “Don’t you worry about it, but I gots a feeling by the end of the day he ain’t going to be a problem no more.”

  Kindra said, “Well if you are about to ruin someone else’s life I can’t see fit not warning them. He is a good man. He’s a hell of a lot nicer to Molly and I than you are, that sure as hell is for sure!”

  “Well your guy...that is so great, is on the front page of the damn newspaper today with a reward on his name. You still think that he is a better man than me? How many times have I done something to get me in the newspaper?”

  Kindra stopped talking, thinking for a second. She said, “Well that still doesn’t mean that he is guilty. He hasn’t laid a hand on us yet and that is more than I can say for you.”

  Edd started undoing his belt, winding a hand around the leather when Kindra started to scream “NO” at the top of her lungs. Molly also started screaming, then she turned and ran out of the house leaving the side door open. She sprinted out into the dirt driveway. Gabriel was walking back, using his shirt to wipe at his face. He knelt down, concerned and holding up his hands to Molly who sprinted straight to him. Gabriel said, “What’s wrong Molly? What happened honey?”

  Molly wiped at her tears and screamed, “It’s my momma, it’s my momma, daddy has his belt Jacob, he’s real mad and he’s gonna hurt her. He ain't nice, he beats us all the time!”

  Gabriel patted her back and pulled out his room key then putting it back away when he saw the broken window pane to his apartment. He said, “I want you to go on upstairs now and wait for your momma to come get you. I promise she’s going to be up there in just a few minutes ok?”

  She wiped at her nose with her arm trying to stop crying but still upset. “You gonna help us Jacob?”

  Jacob patted her head and then her back to usher her up the stairs and to somewhere safe. He said, “I’m gonna do exactly what I know how to do sweetheart.”

  Walking quickly to the house, Gabriel pushed through the already opened door, listening and when he heard the crack of leather and the screams of Kindra, he rushed to the back of the house. Edd had his hand up getting ready to bring it down, on his other hand his fingers were white from the tight grip he had on his wife. Kindra was crouched on the bed. Gabriel saw her trying to protect her unborn baby and lost it. He stepped forward and grabbed the belt tightly and swung Edd by the belt because he wasn’t smart enough to let go. He went flying off balance, head first he went crashing into the dresser and the smashing the large mounted mirror above.

  Edd screamed, the look of astonishment painting his face. Gabriel looked to Kindra and said, “Are you ok, Kindra?”

  She tried rising up off the bed but fell back down onto it. “I don’t know yet, I can’t handle this shit all the time you know. It’s too often and it just keeps getting worse.”

  Edd pushed off the dresser still with his belt in hand. Gabriel said, “You should quit while you are ahead Edd.”

  Edd touched his head, feeling blood come down his face making him angrier. He said, “You son of a bitch, I know who you are, I know that you are wanted by people!”

  Gabriel looked at him with an all new level of seriousness then taking a step forward. “What do you mean that you know who I am Edd? What the hell are you talking about?”

  Edd laughed, he said, “Oh redneck boy might know a little something that big fancy talker does not? Well I was reading the paper this morning waiting on the parts guy; you were front and center on the newspaper. They had a reward plastered right above your face on the front damn page. You look a bit better than you did in the picture but that sure as hell was you and there isn’t a damn doubt about it. I called me that number and I'm gonna get that big fat reward money. Once I get that I'm gonna get the fuck outta dodge and start me a new life on a beach with a cold drink and a hot sun shining on my face every damn day of my life. I ain’t never going to work again, and I'm gonna screw everything that isn’t nailed down.”

  Kindra broke in and yelled, “What is he talking about Jacob? Who the hell are you?”

  Gabriel said, “It's best if you don’t know all the details but I can assure you and I swear to you on my wife’s soul that the only reason that they are after me is because I was seeking

  revenge on the men who took her from me. They were trying to kill me, but they got her by accident. They used me to clean up their mess and then afterwards tried to clean up loose ends by getting rid of me. Well they made a mistake and I took care of them. Now the men that they were working with are after me.”

  Edd said, “That’s bullshit, it said that the CIA were after you, that was who I called into and gave my information to.”

  Gabriel ignored Edd and asked Kindra thinking it was the least that he could do for her. He said, “Kindra, I want you to think about this long and hard. Do you want this piece of shit in your life, or do you want to tell the police he was trying to save you when the madman that you’d rented a room to unknowingly came from nowhere and snapped his neck after s
everely beating the ever loving hell out of him?”

  Kindra looked at Edd whose eyes were growing larger as fear and what Gabriel really meant hit home. She thought of him bloody and dead lying on the floor and having nothing to want for going forward in life because she knew she was still young enough to find love, the kind that didn’t come with the back of a hand. She said, “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t have much time, I need to leave, but if you want me to kill him just say so and I will take care of him.”

  She wiped at her face, looking at the blood and thinking of Molly and her unborn child and that it could be the last time that she did so in fear of the future. She nodded to Gabriel and said, “Yes please.”

  Edd said, “You stupid bitch, you ain’t gonna see a damn dime of that reward money when they pay me out.”

  Gabriel stepped forward towards Edd with his hands at his side. Edd let the belt down holding only the end of it and letting the heavy belt buckle equipped with a beer bottle opener swing freely by his side, ready to strike anyone who came close to him. Gabriel still did not raise his hands. Edd brought the makeshift whip back aiming it as best that he could for Gabriel’s head. When it was whistling towards him, Gabriel caught it mid air, yanking it and Edd off balance and towards him. Edd looked at Gabriel wild eyed, unable to control his momentum going forward. Gabriel did a knife hand strike directly into his Adam's apple. Edd let go of his end of the belt and gripped at his throat with both hands. Gabriel brought the belt up and down five times before Edd could so much as scream aloud, the sound of the belt cracking was deafening and he jumped a foot with each whip.